


Know Thy Heroes

by MiracAlice (AliceTheBookGirl)



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Action/Adventure, Badass Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir, Badass Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, But don't count it out, Dunno about S3 spoilers yet, F/M, Gen, I just want Marinette to be happy and successful, Independent Scenes, Inspired by the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Minimal Salt, Miraculous Team, Post-Reveal Adrien Agreste/Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Romance, The whole world knows AU, Until I Integrate a Plot
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-16
Updated: 2019-07-20
Packaged: 2020-06-29 12:27:06
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,167
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19830205
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AliceTheBookGirl/pseuds/MiracAlice
Summary: With Alya being a self-proclaimed expert on all things superheroes, Marinette has heard more than enough success and failure stories about the Avengers and the Justice League and the Teen Titans, etcetera etcetera. And now, she's been the leader of her own miraculous team of heroes for nearly a decade. She doesn't need the rest of the world telling her how to do her goddamn job. Unfortunately, with superhero identity reveals comes fame. And with fame comes judgment. And stalkers and paparazzi and mob bosses and old enemies.Follow Marinette "Ladybug" Dupain-Cheng as she tries to figure out why she isn't too bothered by how her life has turned out. Oh, and kick ass while she's at it.





	1. Get a Glimpse

**Author's Note:**

> If anyone's read my other works, they might see a pattern where I seem to only ever write post-reveal stories. Don't expect that to change. (With exception to my story Make It or Break It in which our superhero duo still do not know each other's identities yet. I'm amazed at my restraint, really.) 
> 
> So the two scenes in this first chapter are just daydreams of mine that I wanted to write down as a writing exercise, especially the second one because I get super bad writer's block when it comes to fighting and action. 
> 
> I'm also using this story to play around with potential Miraculous powers, so if you see anything you like or are intrigued by, feel free to let me know! The plan is to keep basic powers as they are given by canon but to expand upon what would be cool upgrades.

Marinette slowly lifted her mug to her lips, gently blowing across the top of her drink and admiring the intricate art before taking a delicate sip. She pointedly ignored the pouting man sitting across from her in favor of fully enjoying her drink. 

Ah. Hazelnut. Delicious. 

“Come on, Mari, I thought we agreed.” 

Marinette put a finger up. “I said it was a good idea. I didn’t say I would suit up.” 

She allowed herself another sip. 

Chat Noir sat back and crossed his arms, glaring as his friend continued on nonchalantly. 

“Besides, what point are you trying to make this time?” 

Chat quickly did a 180 and gave her a lopsided grin. “That even in the face of my heart wrenching handsomeness, your beauty and magnificent character still outshines me.” 

Lifting her mug again, this time to hide her smile, Marinette rolled her eyes. “And I needed to be suited up, why?” 

Chat shook his head. “No, no. You’re absolutely right. Your mere presence is so bright that you don’t have to dress up as Ladybug for people to see it.” Leaning his elbows on the table, Chat folded his hands together to rest his chin on them. He gave Marinette a sappy look and nodded to something over her shoulder. “See?” 

Turning around in her seat, Marinette was met with a girl and two boys, all of whom seemed to be siblings. The girl handed her phone to one of the boys—the biggest of the three—and lightly shoved him forward. He, in turn, timidly stepped in front of Marinette and stuttered out, “We know you aren’t in uniform right now, and we totally respect your rules, but Chat Noir is here and we were just wondering, um, if it would be alright…” 

“Would you like a picture with me?” Marinette guessed with a comforting smile. 

The children perked up at her words and nodded enthusiastically. 

“If that’s alright with you, ma’am. You don’t even have to transform!” the girl added. 

“You’re all so polite, one picture won’t hurt,” Marinette replied. She glanced back at her partner, who seemed content to remain on the side. She silently tutted. She wasn’t having any of that. “And I’m guessing no superhero picture would be complete without Chat Noir, would it?” 

The children all chorused in agreement. 

Chat seemed mildly shocked at seeing this turned on him. 

After taking the selfie with the children and then waving them goodbye, the two heroes settled back in their seats. Marinette wrapped her hands around her mug and noticed how cool the ceramic was against her palms. 

“See, Mari?” Chat questioned. “Paris loves Ladybug so much, they easily recognize her without the spots.” 

“See, Chaton?” Marinette shot back. “They love Chat Noir just as much as they love the other _equal_ half of the duo.” She sipped her drink and wrinkled her nose in distaste. “And now you’ve spoiled a perfectly good latte to prove some points we already knew were true. You better be ordering a new one.” 

Chat laughed, waving a waiter over. “Of course, my Lady.” 

Never mind that food and drink were always on the house at Chloé’s hotel. 

********** 

Rules for CAMs (Citizens/Civilians Approaching Miracu-team) 

Written by Marinette Dupain-Cheng and Adrien Agreste

Approved by Miraculous Heroes through unanimous vote 

Published on the _Ladyblog_

  1. Heroes must be suited up. 
  2. Heroes must be in one of the designated locations within Paris that are approved by Ladybug and Chat Noir as LadySpots. 
  3. Heroes must be off duty or on leisure time. Live updates on supernatural and magical attacks on Paris can be found here, along with the status of each active hero. 
  4. DO NOT ask anonymous heroes for personal information. 
  5. DO NOT offer money to heroes. If you wish to make donations for the heroes or for their causes, you can visit the Donations page. 
  6. To request heroes for special events, contact the following:


  * For volunteer ops with Primary Heroes, contact Alya Cesaire. 
  * For volunteer ops with Zodiac Heroes, contact Sabrina Raincomprix. 
  * For other events (galas, interviews, press conferences, etc.), contact Main. 



********** 

Absentmindedly scratching the back of her calf with her foot, Marinette contemplated the silk tablecloth of the long dining table that she sat several feet away from. Would that material be strong enough to suit her purposes? she wondered. Taking note of the blood red sheen of the fabric, she idly thought that the color would at least look good on her. 

She broke out of her thoughts when a voice came from right behind her ear.

“Good to go, whenever you’re ready,” her hidden companion whispered. 

Marinette did not react in any visible way except to flex her hands behind her back. She stilled completely, however, when she sensed people approaching the room. 

A set of double door flew open on the other side of the room and in marched a group of half a dozen men and women dressed in protective gear and no doubt carrying some type of firearms on their persons. Leading this group was a man who was dressed similarly, though his light brown hair was combed back and he wore a pair of shades over his eyes. When he—obviously the leader—stopped in front of Marinette, he pushed them to the top of his head and crossed his arms, assuming an imposing stance while his entourage took positions surrounding him and Marinette. 

Two behind her, one on each of her sides, and two behind the leader—right in front of the red tablecloth she had just been admiring. 

Marinette resisted the urge to smirk. 

They sure were underestimating her. The ease with which Tikki unbound her hands earlier only proved her right. 

It was silent for a few seconds and Marinette guessed they were all waiting for her to speak. Instead, she kept her eyes on M. Boss and merely raised an eyebrow, clearly unimpressed by their display. 

She wouldn’t cave and it was inevitable that the man before her did so first. 

“I’m sure you know that the only reason you’re not already dead is that you still hold valuable information for us. Aside from that, you’re useless.” His steel grey eyes held a spark of victory. 

An easy smile slipped onto her face. “We both know that’s not true.” 

“What?” 

“You could hold me for ransom—monetary or…otherwise. Use me as bait to lure other heroes to your home-field.” She tilted her head enticingly. “Maybe you could even bring me to your side. After all, I just might be the most powerful person in Paris—France, even.” 

By the way the man hesitated for the briefest moment meant that even if he wasn’t too distracted by her words, she still managed to get into his head.

M. Boss shook his head. 

“Enough with the useless talk. You’re in no position to be negotiating. We have your earrings.” 

Marinette tutted. “That you do.” 

It was true that the first thing her captors did was remove her black earrings. Little did they know, the jewelry was worthless. If it was her Miraculous they were looking for… 

Well. 

A lady had to keep _some_ secrets, right? 

“You’ll tell us exactly how to work the magic,” the leader continued. 

“How about I show you instead?” Time to get the party started. 

“Wha—?!” 

Marinette quickly shot out of her seat and as she did so, gripped the back her chair with her completely free hands and flung it over her head to hit M. Boss. His followers’ shock only lasted about two seconds tops, but it was enough for Marinette to leap after her chair and plant a foot on the seat as soon as it hit her target. She used that as a stepping block to jump over the two henchmen behind their leader and land on the table. She rolled off, dragging the tablecloth with her. 

Landing in a crouch on the other side, she heard a few shots ring out. 

“No fatal shots!” she heard over the slight ringing in her ears. “We still need her alive!” 

Hah. Adrien would never let her hear the end of it if she came home from this with even a graze. 

Tikki, who had been hidden successfully up to this point, nudged Marinette’s cheek. Marinette nodded in confirmation as she heard her enemies rushing to her spot. By the time they had her in their sights, she was already transformed. 

M. Boss saw and gaped in disbelief. “Impossible!” 

Before anyone could take proper aim, Ladybug threw the red fabric up and startled them into shooting. 

“So much for ‘no fatal shots,’” she muttered. 

The tablecloth, she discovered, was four times wider than her body and she used that to her advantage. Her suit camouflaged well with the silk so when she leapt over the table and around her enemies, taking the cloth with her, it was near impossible for them to get a clear shot. 

Ladybug flipped and spun around the room, creating a large scale ribbon dance, crushing fingers that held guns and tangling her weapon around legs to pull enemies off their feet. Within minutes all the henchmen were down for the count and wrapped up nicely with red cloth. The last man standing was M. Boss himself. 

“So,” Ladybug began, flicking her wrist and drawing her yo-yo back to her, “who’s the useless one now?” 

The man could do nothing but back away frantically as the spotted heroine closed in on him. 

… 

Adrien leaned against a police van with his hands resting casually in the pockets of his dark grey joggers. Behind him, he could hear Plagg munching on some cheese while reclining in the hood of Adrien’s denim jacket. 

To a normal onlooker, they would see Adrien Agreste being the effortless model that his teenage days shaped him out to be, without a care in the world. Inside however, he was thrumming with the desire to brandish his claws and _move_. 

The kwami had told him not to worry, that as long as he could sense Tikki, then Marinette was managing just fine on her own. 

But didn’t Plagg _get it_? 

His thoughts were interrupted by a flash of color in the sky before the thud of something large and red and lumpy resounded in front of the van followed by muffled groans. Officer Raincomprix exited the vehicle just as a nimble figure landed gracefully before them. Adrien’s fingers twitched when Ladybug shot him a loving smile. 

He had wanted _so badly_ to join the action. 

As Officer Raincomprix thanked the heroine and approached the kidnappers with his fellow policemen, Adrien walked over to his Lady. 

He didn’t even get the chance to say anything before she ruffled his hair and whispered, “Maybe next time, Kitty.” 

He pouted. 

She knew him too well. 


	2. Famous

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The whole world wants to know your business. Do you:
> 
> A) Give them what they want;  
> B) Don't give a flying rat's ass about it and instead spend the day with your love; or   
> C) Let your PR stress about it. 
> 
> (Adrien asks: Where's the "all of the above" option?)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I thought the Instagram accounts themselves were hilarious. Then I heard about the buggachat debacle that went down and now I've got stitches in my side from laughing so hard. 
> 
> Ahhh man, what a time to be alive. 
> 
> It's perfect that I got these scenes done today.

Alya walked briskly down the hall as she used her stylus to tap away at her tablet. She was running a bit late, but there was no way in hell she’d show up to the interviewed flustered. As the spokeswoman and head of PR for the Miracu-Team, she was determined to make a good impression on the journalist from  _ The Paris Daily _ , the most popular newspaper in the city. 

When Marinette and Adrien first approached her with the job offer several years ago, they were all just barely out of high school. By then, the Hawkmoth and Mayura situation had been resolved and Alya was fully aware of the identities of the Primary Heroes. Her job hadn’t been easy starting out—especially since she continued school at the same time—but all she had to do back then was represent the heroes that Parisians already loved (“love” being used loosely regarding Queen Bee in this case). 

These days, it was becoming common knowledge that Ladybug, Chat Noir and Queen Bee were all famous civilians, meaning they had separate reputations from their hero personas and it was Alya’s job to meld them together in a way that was most beneficial to the team. Add to that the growing popularity of the Zodiac Heroes and Alya finally admitted that she had her hands full. 

She loved her job, truly, but it was with tears of relief that she accepted Chloe’s referral for Sabrina to become Alya’s assistant. With the trusted woman’s help, Alya could finally bring her full attention to wrangling the reputations of the “Famed Trio,” as the rest of the Miracu-Team have taken to calling them. 

Over the course of the past two or three years, Alya had meticulously worked through the backlog of meetings, interviews, donations, press releases and emails (oh god, the emails) all the while being on-call as Rena Rouge. 

Alya sighed. 

She was working her dream job, but man, she should ask for a vacation soon. Maybe after the article from this interview was published. With her salary, she could take herself and her sisters somewhere really nice. Barcelona was a must for future travels. Or maybe the Greek Islands this time around? 

As much fun as it was to daydream about sunny beaches however, Alya was nothing if not professional. She brought her focus back to the present as she approached the door which the journalist was waiting behind. 

Putting on a pleasant smile, Alya turned her tablet screen off to quickly check her appearance. Deeming herself suitably hot, she pushed the door open and stepped into the room to greet the other person. 

Looking up, she froze. 

“Oh,  _ hell _ no!”

***

“Can we try it at 95%?”

“Even though the threads have already begun to fray?” 

“Yes. I want to know its limits. Wear and tear doesn’t necessarily mean it’s no longer useable.” 

“That’s a good point,” Max condeded. He nodded to the humanoid figure beside him. 

“Markov, let’s take the levels to 95 and do a full-body charge.” 

Markov reached a robotic arm over to adjust the settings of the testing chamber while Max recorded the numbers for the next run. 

“Systems are ready, my friend.” 

“Thank you. Marinette, we can start whenever you’d like.” 

Marinette held a hand to her chin as she contemplated the chamber. She walked to the other side so Max and Markov could only get a glimpse of her through the glass. 

“I’m ready!” came her loud answer. 

Max nodded then added, “Commencing test in three…two…one!” 

Marinette carefully observed the damaged clothing on the test mannequin as shocks of electricity ran across its form for a scant few seconds. When the hum of the machine died down, some arcs of electricity remained briefly before fading away. As for the clothing…well, it was mostly still intact. 

“How was that, Marinette?” Max asked as he leaned to the side, trying to get a better look at her. “Were the results to your satisfaction?” 

Marinette hummed in thought as she walked back over. “We’ll have to make some improvements on the clothing that I’m planning to give to the majority of the team. But I think something like this will work just fine for me and Adrien. At least for now. Our strong immunity to harm that the Miraculous training gives us can take care of anything that makes it past the protective fabric.” 

“Anything  _ non-magical, _ correct?” Markov clarified. 

Marinette pursed her lips. “Right. But this is a good start. You two are absolute geniuses and I couldn’t ask for anyone better to take on these crazy projects I keep bringing in.” 

Max waved off the praise, hearing it all before while Markov’s face screen gave the impression of blushing. 

After chatting for a few minutes more, Marinette grabbed her coat and bag and bid her two friends a good night. She walked down the hall a short ways and entered a lift, which took her up several floors until finally stopping and opening its door to reveal the inside of a relatively large shed. 

The door to the lift slid shut and assumed the appearance of a nondescript wall covered in carpenter’s and gardener’s tools, just like the rest of the shed’s interior. Upon exiting the shed through a rather normal door, Marinette was met with a garden that was rather tame but bursting with color. Bees and butterflies flew about the flowers and she even spotted a rabbit shuffling around under some leaves. She idly reminded herself to ask Gabriel about his gardening secrets next time she saw him. Her mother might want to exchange tips. 

As it was, Marinette didn’t plan to enter the Agreste mansion that day and took a left to exit through the main gates instead. Just as they completely shut behind her, Marinette’s phone began to ring. Looking at the caller ID, she smiled before answering. 

“Hello, love.” 

“Good evening, my Lady. Would you mind doing me a favor and looking up?” 

Curiously, Marinette did just that and spotted a man’s silhouette on the roof of the building across from the mansion, framed by the orange sky. 

She hid her grin. 

“Oh, my! I seem to have found a rather questionable character prowling the rooftops of Paris. Is he watching me? Whatever shall I do!” 

A breathy chuckle. “Not to worry, Princess. I think you’ll find yourself in  _ very _ good hands.” 

Before her eyes, the silhouette melted into the shadows and disappeared from the roof. Almost immediately, Marinette felt a presence behind her. 

“This cat won’t bite,” a husky voice murmured in her ear, sending a delicious shiver down her spine. He nipped her earlobe, dangerously close to her earring. “Much.” 

He wrapped his arms around her waist and together, they disappeared from the street without a trace. 

An inconspicuous figure stepped out from behind the corner of a building and packed a camera away. 

**********

_ Some years ago…  _

“Nino, no. Put the camera down, we are  _ not _ starting a heroes vlog.” 

“Nino, yes. Don’t listen to her.” 

Lowering his video camera, Nino looked between the only two people he took orders from and began to sweat. 

A hand clapping him on the shoulder startled him enough to drop the camera on the couch. 

“Ladies, I think we should call a team meeting about this instead of putting the final decision in Nino’s hands,” Adrien suggested, giving his friend a sympathetic look. 

Marinette sighed. “You’re right. We’re all here anyway. Someone call Chloe over.” 

Nino volunteered himself, if only to escape the room, and took his sweet time looking around Marinette and Adrien’s penthouse apartment for their elusive teammate. 

Minutes later the five heroes and their kwamis were gathered around the dining table. 

“I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Ladybug and Chat Noir are superheroes,  _ not  _ celebrities.” 

“Yes,” Alya began, “you’re half right.” Marinette glared. “But, Marinette and Adrien _ are _ celebrities who happen to be the very same Ladybug and Chat Noir. People know who you are and now, they see Marinette and Adrien as heroes and in turn, they see Ladybug and Chat Noir as celebrities.” 

“I wouldn’t consider myself a celebrity, Alya,” Marinette refuted. “I just happen to be well-known for my work. Besides, if there’s anyone here who would be considered a celebrity in both identities, it would be Chloe.” 

Alya raised a brow and glanced at said blonde who had a compact mirror held up to fix her makeup, clearly not interested in the conversation she had been dragged over for. “Your point?” 

“Look at how she turned out!” Marinette waved her arms at Chloe’s…everything. 

Chloe looked at her, affronted. 

The men unsuccessfully tried to hide their laughter as they watched the whole exchange. The kwamis simply snacked and watched videos on their chosens’ phones together. 

Marinette wondered what her argument even was anymore. 

“I’m not blind to the people’s reception to Queen Bee. They know who she is and they fuse her identities together and no offense Chloe, but some of the reason why they all trust you so much is because you aren’t the one leading this team. They give you a pass for being you.” 

“Ouch,” Nino murmured. 

Chloe rolled her eyes. “I’m not fifteen and blind anymore, Dupain-Cheng. Of course I knew that already. If anything,  _ you’re  _ still the blind one. These days I know better and I wouldn’t touch that kind of responsibility with Chat’s infinitely long stick. I could chip a nail.” 

Adrien placed his hands on one of Marinette’s and finally joined in. “What Chloe is trying to say is, you and her are two very different people. We all know what the general public thinks of her and her role as Queen Bee. It started out lukewarm because of how she used to be but it’s gotten so much better after all these years. But you,” he brought her hand to his lips so he could place a light kiss against her knuckles, “you’re already so well-loved as Ladybug  _ and _ Marinette that together, they love you twice as much.” His eyes shone with how much truth he personally felt from that statement. 

“Dude, there’s always gonna be haters, but you’ve got so many supporters already.” 

“And girl, with us around, you don’t have to be afraid.” 

Glancing at each of her friends, including the kwamis that had paused in their activities to smile at her, Marinette felt a weight lighten from her shoulders. It was definitely still there, but it no longer seemed to threaten to crush her—something she hadn’t even realized had started to happen. 

She smiled. “You’re right, we can do this.” 

Alya grinned right back. “Great. Nino, get the camera ready. I’ve already got the channel set up. We can start posting today.” 

Chloe blinked. “Oh. Was that what the meeting was originally for?” 

Gobsmacked, Marinette jumped out of her chair, nearly smacking her boyfriend’s face in the process. 

“That’s right! I never agreed to the vlog. I’m  _ not _ a celebrity, Alya!” 

“Based on the conversation we just had, you most certainly are.” 

“But—!” 

“Oh, stop the useless fight, Dupain-Cheng. Anyone who has a national fan base can be considered a celebrity. Doubly so if they have merchandise and movies made after them.  _ You _ have an international reputation with millions of followers on your civilian Instagram account while your hero autograph is worth thousands.” 

“That little,” Adrien humorously inserted. Chloe ignored him. 

“You are a celebrity.” She levelled Marinette with an uncharacteristically stern gaze. “So sit your ass down and let your spokeswoman do her damn job.” 

After staring down her teammate for what felt like an hour, Marinette sighed and backed off. “Fine,” she relented. “What’s done is done and best I let Alya deal with it how she deems fit.” 

“Thank you,” Alya sarcastically responded. She then gave Marinette a soft smile. “And look, just because you’re labelled a celebrity doesn’t mean you have to act like Jagged or the Queen of England or even Chloe. Be yourself by being as focused on your jobs as you need to be and we’ll take care of anyone who complains.” 

Marinette laughed in agreement. 

“And like lover-boy said, they already love you so it just makes my job easier.” 

**********

_ Present day…  _

_ I hate my job so much right now,  _ Alya seethed in her mind. She immediately shook her head. No, she loved her love job, with everything she had. Her intense feelings of hate were actually sourced from something else. What was it again…? 

Oh, yes. 

“Alya Cesaire! It’s so good to see you. Amazing how our paths crossed like this after so many years!” The woman before her got up from her seat and extended a hand out to shake. 

Alya ignored it. She sneered. 

“Lila Rossi. What an unpleasant surprise.” 

Lila withdrew her hand. She gave what seemed to be an unsure smile. And was that also trepidation in her eyes? 

_ Good,  _ Alya thought. She knew she was being petty, but hey, how many people could sincerely say they held no hard feelings over someone who once helped their mortal enemy and never suffered the consequences nor felt remorse over it? The answer was none—not even Ladybug herself. 

Lila quickly recovered. 

“I know certain allegations about me in the past have greatly changed your opinion of me since we were kids. But for the sake of our jobs, can we put that aside for now? I am more than willing to have an honest conversation with you after we finish our work.” 

It took everything Alya had to choke down a scathing reply. Loathe as she was to admit it, the notorious liar was right. 

She huffed. It really sucked to remain professional sometimes. 

“Fine. But I ask that we postpone today’s interview for a later date.  _ The Paris Daily _ is known for its  _ unbiased _ publications that provide  _ reliable _ and  _ real _ news to Paris. I don’t think that’s possible at this time, given our history. I also need to discuss this unforeseen circumstance with my employers. If anything, we should have that ‘honest conversation’ before moving forward.” Alya did nothing to hide her distaste for suggesting she spend more time in Lila’s presence. 

Unphased, Lila gave another small smile and nodded. “Of course. Glad we could come to a civil agreement.” She took a card out of her blazer and handed it to Alya. “You can call or email me a time and day that works best for you, Miss Cesaire. I look forward to seeing you again.” 

Lila put her hand out and Alya begrudgingly shook it this time. 

_ Can’t say I feel the same _ . 

***

Tossing on a robe and loosely tying the belt around his waist, Adrien exited the bedroom and padded his way to the kitchen. He opened up the fridge and rummaged through the shelves, wondering what to have for breakfast. 

Would bread with honey or jam be enough to start the day? Or maybe a bowl of fruit and plain yogurt was better. 

Absentmindedly scratching his cheek, Adrien recalled that the activities from the night before were of the more rough and wild variety and therefore Marinette’s palette would hate anything too sweet at this time. They picked up on certain odd patterns in her diet years ago but the adjustments were never a bother. 

The intricacies of the human body would always puzzle Adrien, and that wasn’t even adding the effects the Miraculous have had on his and his Lady’s bodies. (Needless to say, the two of them were immune to pregnancy scares by now.) 

Recalling what Marinette did enjoy on mornings such as these, Adrien looked around for the countertop fruit bowl that was usually stocked with bananas, apples and pears. Not seeing it anywhere in the kitchen, Adrien frowned and wondered if someone took it to the living area sometime the past week and forgot to bring it back. It happened quite often because the kwamis liked to hang out where the floor-to-ceiling windows allowed natural light to flood the space. 

Shuffling through his home, Adrien was greeted by a surprise on the couch. 

“Uh, Alya? What are you doing here?” He paused to take in his friend’s face, which was angled towards her laptop screen as she typed furiously. “And why do you look so angry?” 

“Morning, Agreste. I let myself in.” She continued on as if that was that. 

Adrien stood there for a moment before asking, “Are you doing work? Need any help?”

Here, Alya froze. She slowly turned her head to look the man straight in the eyes. 

“No. Out of all the people, I don’t need help from  _ you. _ ” 

Almost nervous to ask his next question, Adrien tensed a little to get ready to run. “And why is that?” 

Instead of erupting in a frenzy of rage, Alya merely turned back to her laptop, ever so slowly. 

“Uh…” 

“This might explain some of it.” 

Adrien looked to the other occupant of the room, who floated up to him holding the ripped off front page of a well-known gossip magazine. Once Adrien grabbed hold of it, Trixx zipped back to the pile of fruit that sat on the coffee table in front of Alya. 

_ “SUPERHEROES OR SUPER-NAUGHTY? The Paris Power Couple’s Bedroom Secrets Reveal Like Their Secret Identity Reveal” _ was plastered on the glossy page over an image of Chat Noir caging an enamored Marinette Dupain-Cheng within his arms as he sucked on her ear, right in the middle of a public street. 

Adrien smirked. 

They weren’t  _ wrong.  _

“Ohhhhoho, no,” came Alya’s admonishing voice. “You don’t get to act all amused and smug about this, no sir. Not when I know you fucking planned for that to happen and that your girl’s gonna throw hands when she finds out.” 

Laughing, knowing long ago he was a dead man, Adrien walked over to one of the seats across from Alya and sat down, grabbing himself an apple to munch on. “Come on, we both know it’s not that bad. So tell me what’s really grinding your gears this morning or I’ll just ask Trixx to spill everything.” 

Alya sighed frustratedly and took her glasses off to rub the bridge of her nose. She knew as well as the others that once prompted, Trixx would start gossiping and never stop. That was something Alya did not need on top of her stress. 

“I met with the journalist from  _ The Paris Daily _ yesterday.” 

Chewing on his apple, Adrien merely raised an eyebrow. 

“It was Lila Rossi.” 

He choked. 

“What?” a stern voice cut in. 

Alya and Trixx looked to the entrance of the room where Marinette stood in a robe similar to Adrien’s and with Tikki on one shoulder and a sleeping Plagg on the other. Adrien continued to cough and clear his throat. 

“Why didn’t you tell us?” Marinette demanded as she walked over. 

Alya rolled her eyes. “I tried to contact you so we could meet about it asap but then an online article of your role-playing exhibitionist kinks came out and suddenly I had my hands full while I knew I wasn’t getting an answer from either of you unless the sky was falling or the Seine was on fire.” 

Marinette spotted the magazine cover and she narrowed her eyes. She shifted a glare to Adrien, who had finally stopped his coughing fit but whose face was bright red (not from shame, mind you; from the choking). 

Sitting down finally, Marinette turned her gaze away and her eyes lost focus as she shifted to her thinking face. 

“What do we do, Mari?” Adrien asked with a hoarse voice. Alya sat up straighter and prepared to take notes on her laptop. 

Reaching up a hand to lightly pet Plagg, Marinette nodded to herself. Adrien knew the exact moment when she had a solid plan. The corner of her mouth quirked up and her eyes achieved a certain clarity while she let out a deep but silent exhale through her nose. 

Marinette leaned back and stopped petting Plagg, who had drowsily woken up. She crossed her arms and looked between Alya and Adrien. 

“Nothing.” 


End file.
